Abstract
In this article, titanium oxide nanotube arrays (TiO2–NTAs) were fabricated by anodic oxidation in an ethylene glycol (EG) electrolyte solution containing 0.25 wt.% NH4F. By varying anodized time and annealed temperature, the obtained nanotube arrays behaved different photocatalytic (PC) activities and photocurrent properties. These samples were characterized by scanning electronic microscope (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). It was indicated in SEM images that TiO2 nanotube manifests highly ordered structure which, however, has been completely destroyed when the temperature comes to 800°C. XRD manifested that TiO2 nanotubes with various kinds of length all possessed anatase crystallite when annealed at 500°C; meanwhile, with certain length, TiO2–NTAs annealed at series calcination temperature range of 300–600°C also presented anatase crystallite, which is gradually enhanced with the increment of temperature. At 700°C, mixed structure was observed which was made up of proportions of overwhelming anatase and toothful rutile. Methyl blue (MB) degradation and photocurrent measurement testified that TiO2–NTAs under 4 h oxidation and 3 h of 600°C calcination manifested the highest activity and photocurrent density.
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